Digital HealthSystems in India

... a Marketeer's murmur!

The digital transformation of hospitals involves the adoption and implementation of digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, patient care, and overall care delivery. This transformation encompasses various areas, including and not limited to:

• Patient flow management from a care continuum point of view
• Electronic wellness & health records
• Telehealth and Remote monitoring tools
• Data analysis, security and consent management
• Integration of digital solutions for an optimized healthcare workflow

Hospitals now appreciate the need to move away from point solutions and adopting a platform approach to digital transformation. The platform approach enables hospitals to reduce costs, streamline/optimize workflows and improve patient experience (if not outcomes, yet!) by providing a unified view of patient data and enabling seamless communication between & across different departments and healthcare stakeholders. The platform approach also allows hospitals to scale their digital capabilities more effectively and adapt to changing healthcare needs. However, the adoption of a platform approach requires careful planning and consideration of factors such as IT infrastructure, data security, and regulatory compliance. Healthcare CxOs that look at this as a 'system' approach and not as independent fixes have a better chance of succeeding.

The shift from point solutions to a platform approach in the digital health space has been driven by the need for integrated and seamless healthcare experiences. This transition is evident in the rise of "one-stop-shop" solutions that aim to provide holistic care, including online/physical consultations, prescription management, home-delivery of medications, sample collection, and result sharing and In-patient services. However, some of the prominent tech-first direct-to-consumer (D2C) digital health companies, such as Practo , PharmEasy , MFine , and Tata Digital (Health), appear to have faced challenges in this evolving landscape.

In early 2023 , I had mentioned that we will see hospitals-led integrated solutions emerge stronger than the tech-led companies. Below is a quick market map of key hospital players' approach to provide an integrated healthcare services

With clinical-medical resources, robustness and trust, Hospitals seems to be moving in the right direction. They are building-growing in-house tech teams, partnering with healthtech companies and thanks to the funding crunch, they are exploring chances to acquire struggling D2C digital health companies in a fire sale!

However, the hospitals will continue to have the following 2 challenges in the next 2-3 years;

• technology + healthcare service integration is imperative, so much so, that it will be considered as the 'new innovation'.
• providing an 'Unified Care ' layer for empowerment + eXperience + engagement to the stake holders

Currently the afore mentioned hospitals are integrating things across and (only) within their group hospitals. Will they make their healthsystem truly open and inter-operable across different healthsystems, that needs to be seen!

This is a Marketeer's attempt to envisage state of digital healthsystems in India. For a detailed analysis of hospital players/space, feel free to reach out to me. Charge$ apply! Any feedback / comments are welcome.